The administrative court of appeal in Paris ruled on Friday, September 18, that the Region Ile-de-France must remove its free digital school textbooks from an online platform by Monday, November 2. The region is also required to notify high schools of this decision so teachers can prepare for the change. This ruling provides the regional council with more time to comply with a previous judgment from May 26, which declared the publication of these textbooks by the local authority illegal. Since 2022, the Region Ile-de-France, led by Valérie Pécresse of the LR party, has provided free digital textbooks to high schools in the region. These textbooks, available on the Pearltrees platform, were described as "free" and modifiable by teachers. However, this initiative faced opposition from private publishers, who claimed it created unfair competition. The publishers, through their association Les Editeurs d'éducation, successfully argued their case in the administrative court of Montreuil, which had previously ordered the regional council to remove the textbooks by September 30. The region appealed this decision, which is still ongoing, and requested a suspension of the removal, citing potential negative effects on students and teachers. The court agreed to delay the removal until November 2 to give teachers time to adjust. According to AFP, the lawyer for the education publishers' association, Me Emmanuel Glaser, stated that the removal would not disrupt the start of the autumn term. Valérie Pécresse, however, described the court's decision as a political setback. She emphasized the importance of continuing her push to provide a more affordable and widely used educational tool, even as she acknowledged the need to protect students and teachers from disruption. The opposition in the regional council, including the Left, Communist, Ecologist, and Citizen group, has called for an increase in regional funds to purchase textbooks from publishers. They argue that this decision will impact half of the high schools in the region and stress the need to support the work already undertaken by teachers and students. The group plans to raise the issue during a permanent committee meeting scheduled for next week.